Joining The Fun

March 23, 1986

NEW DELHI, INDIA — Devotees of Renuka Devi believe that the goddess blesses only those who worship her in the nude. They forced a group of police officers to join them last week in Karnataka state. According to press reports, social reformers tried to stop a worship service, and the nude devotees attacked them. The police came and were attacked in turn. ''The handful of police, finding themselves clearly outnumbered and utterly helpless, joined the demonstrators and appealed for the continuance of nude worship,'' said the newspaper, The Hindu.